Hindu Kush Himalaya is home to many cultural and religious sites. The literature on the valuation of cultural sites in the mountain terrains is thin. Hence, their development and sustainability are often ignored. Using primary survey data from three different sites in the Kailash Sacred Landscape of India and Nepal, the cultural value of religious sites to the visitors and households living in the surrounding areas was estimated using a modified travel cost method. As visitors travel by foot and offer donations at the religious sites, the estimations account for these aspects in travel cost calculations. For the sample sites, the per year average use value of cultural services was estimated to be USD 2.9 million. Excluding the use value to the outside visitors, the annual estimated use value of cultural services to the approximately 200,000 households of the entire KSL area, which covers 31,252 km2, is over USD 22.6 million, which is over 7% and 15% of the per capita income of Indian and Nepali households, respectively, indicating the importance of the natural-cultural environments in rural livelihoods. The estimated values will help planners manage these cultural sites sustainably for improving the livelihoods of the people living in the areaRead More

In the remote Himalayan districts of Pithoragarh, India and Baitadi, Nepal, households are dependent on agriculture and forests for their livelihood. In this paper, we examine poverty–forest linkages by examining data from a survey of 652 households from these districts, who live on either side of the Mahakali River. Per capita income in Nepal is half of that in India. Yet, in the Himalayas, where households live in a similar geographic terrain, we find that households in Nepal are much better off in terms of assets and income relative to their Indian counterparts. Per capita, Nepalese also collect less than half the fuelwood collected by Indians. Remittances, economic diversification and better water and sanitation infrastructure may contribute to improved livelihood outcomes in Nepal. Forests are intrinsic to life in both districts, and institutional or technological differences may be responsible for disparities in forest useRead More

In the remote Himalayan districts of Pithoragarh, India and Baitadi, Nepal, households are dependent on agriculture and forests for their livelihood. In this paper, we examine poverty–forest linkages by examining data from a survey of 652 households from these districts, who live on either side of the Mahakali River. Per capita income in Nepal is half of that in India. Yet, in the Himalayas, where households live in a similar geographic terrain, we find that households in Nepal are much better off in terms of assets and income relative to their Indian counterparts. Per capita, Nepalese also collect less than half the fuelwood collected by Indians. Remittances, economic diversification and better water and sanitation infrastructure may contribute to improved livelihood outcomes in Nepal. Forests are intrinsic to life in both districts, and institutional or technological differences may be responsible for disparities in forest useRead More

The city of Guwahati in north-east India falls under seismic zone V and is located in Assam gap of Himalaya. It has historically witnessed devastating earthquakes up to 8.7 on the Richter scale in 1897 and 1950. Unplanned rapid urbanization has increased its seismic vulnerability of life and property. This paper attempts to develop a ward-level hazard map of the city through systematic vulnerability analyses of the hazard by overlapping the ward map and the earthquake hazard microzonation map. Out of total 31 wards, five wards with highest density of population and taller buildings were taken as the most vulnerable areas and were selected for this study. These buildings have reinforced cement concrete framed structure but with various options of roof. A structured survey was carried out with Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) for existing building stock. Total100 buildings were randomly selected from the sample of residential, commercial, industrial, religious and mixed use buildings from municipal tax record. The buildings were categorized in terms of nine major vulnerability parameters based on Indian references. They were customized and graded as per US FEMA guideline which is more comprehensive in dealing with other building structures such as masonry or lightweight timber structures. Buildings under survey were scored and ranked based on their seismic vulnerability. Though the preliminary scoring passed (score>0.3) all buildings, but further refinement is needed to infer precisely. The result is helpful in formulating local level policy making to prioritize the building stock for appropriate remedial measures. The study also complements the earthquake resistant building codes and guidelinesof India developed for the new building constructionRead More

Using behavioral economic theory and statistical methods, this study estimates the use value of ecosystem services that the households living in the three watersheds and visitors to the Patal Bhuwaneshwar Cave Temple of the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) area derive from the sites under consideration. The selected watersheds (Hat-Kalika and Chandak-Aunla Ghat of India and Gwallek Kedar of Nepal) are the pilot sites of the Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KSLCDI) of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal and India. The present study mainly focuses on estimating the value of the cultural services and the water provisioning services of the forest ecosystem along with assessing a possibility of designing an incentive payment for an ecosystem services (IPES) scheme for provisioning drinking water to one of the pilot sites. We interviewed a total of 1,418 respondents for the study, making it inclusive where women’s share is about 50% of the respondentsRead More

This study was carried out to design an incentive payment for an ecosystem services (IPES) scheme in the Baitadi Town Water Supply and Sanitation Project of Nepal. The main intention behind the designing of the scheme was to develop strategy for equitable use of water resources and involve communities, watershed and water user, in the sustainable management of water resources. We administered household survey in both the watershed community and water users to elicit their preferences regarding water source management and drinking water supply. A discrete choice experiment was employed in the case of water users which showed that, for them, water quality and quantity are the most important attributes. The estimated annual willingness-to-pay of water users for doubling water availability is NPR 482,076 (USD 4,505) and for doubling the water quantity and the supply of clean water that can be drunk directly from the tap is NPR 1.18 million (USD 10,988). The results of consultations with stakeholders indicate that the construction of public toilets, the regularization of grazing, off-season vegetable farming and drinking water distribution in the upstream area may contribute to maintaining the quality of water while keeping the watershed community satisfied with regard to water-sharing. These activities require NPR 1.17 million (USD 10,987) in the first year and NPR 425,640 (USD 3,978) annually from the second year on. The estimated willingness-to-pay and cost of the watershed activities indicate that implementing IPES in the Baitadi Town Water Supply Project is financially feasible and socially acceptable. Our study recommends the integration of the IPES design into the project design phase in future drinking water scheme, the best option being its integration into the initial environmental examination at the time of project designRead More

This study investigates the groundwater quality in the Faridpur district of central Bangladesh based on preselected 60 sample points. Water evaluation indices and a number of statistical approaches such as multivariate statistics and geostatistics are applied to characterize water quality, which is a major factor for controlling the groundwater quality in term of drinking purposes. The study reveal that EC, TDS, Ca2+, total As and Fe values of groundwater samples exceeded Bangladesh and international standards. Ground water quality index (GWQI) exhibited that about 47% of the samples were belonging to good quality water for drinking purposes. The heavy metal pollution index (HPI), degree of contamination (Cd), heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) reveal that most of the samples belong to low level of pollution. However, Cd provide better alternative than other indices. Principle component analysis (PCA) suggests that groundwater quality is mainly related to geogenic (rock–water interaction) and anthropogenic source (agrogenic and domestic sewage) in the study area. Subsequently, the findings of cluster analysis (CA) and correlation matrix (CM) are also consistent with the PCA results. The spatial distributions of groundwater quality parameters are determined by geostatistical modeling. The exponential semivariagram model is validated as the best fitted models for most of the indices values. It is expected that outcomes of the study will provide insights for decision makers taking proper measures for groundwater quality management in central BangladeshRead More

In recent years, the severity and frequency of heat waves in India has increased, contributing to deaths across the country. As part of the response to this challenge, the state of Odisha launched awareness campaigns on how to cope with heat waves and other extreme weather events. So, what exactly was done to reduce the impacts of heat waves and how successful was the Odisha Government in saving lives? Saudamini Das from the University of Delhi asked these questions and carefully examined the evidence on impactsRead More

Since 2002, the Indian state of Odisha has been undertaking a grassroots awareness campaign on "dos and don'ts" during heat wave conditions through the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) program. The selection criteria for DRM districts were earthquake, flood, and cyclone incidence, but subsequently heat wave awareness also received intense attention in these districts. We present quasi-experimental evidence on the impact of the program, taking DRM districts and periods as treatment units and the rest as controls. We analyze the impact on the death toll from heat stroke for the 1998 to 2010 period, using difference-in-difference (DID) regressions with district level panel data and a set of control variables. We find indications of program effectiveness with initial DID specifications, but results are not strongly robust. We then take into account a statewide heat wave advertising program, to which the poor have limited exposure but which may also provide spillover benefits, using a triple differencing approach. These results suggest the heat wave awareness programs may have complementary impacts. We examine research strategies for much-needed improvement in the precision of impact evaluation results for innovative programs of this typeRead More

Storm protection is an important regulating service provided by mangrove forests because they can shield inland property and lives during tropical cyclones. Theoretical as well as empirical research shows that mangroves provide protection from storm surge. But whether mangroves protect inland static property during storms is less explored. This paper estimates the storm protection benefits due to mangroves during the super cyclone of 1999 in Orissa. By combining GIS data with census information, the paper examines the mangrove mediated effects on residential property in the Kendrapada district of Orissa. The analyses suggest that the percentage of fully collapsed houses in the study area would have increased by 23% without the benefit of mangrove protection. On the other hand, if the mangrove cover had remained at the level that it had been in the 1950s, the area would not have suffered any fully collapsed houses at all. The total protection benefits of mangroves in terms of averted damages to residential property in Kendrapada are estimated to be INR 592,647,800 (USD14, 110, 662). This suggests that mangrove forests provided protection benefits to houses to the extent of INR 975, 800 (USD 23,233) per km width of forests or INR 51,168 (USD 1218) per hectare of forests. Thus, policy makers need to take mangrove conservation and re-planting into account in planning for tropical storms, which are expected to increase with global warmingRead More